Innovation summary

There is a lack of mental health promotion, prevention and access to care for school-going children in Kenya. The goal of this innovation was to test the efficacy and feasibility for scale-up of a multi-stakeholder model for primary schools that seeks to promote mental well-being, prevent mental illness and reduce the treatment gap for children. The main components of the innovation include:

  • Establishing and running peer clubs
  • Sensitizing parents on mental health issues
  • Increasing interaction between home and school

Impact summary

  • Approximately 6,000 primary school-going children were assessed for mental health issues2
  • The innovation resulted in a reduction of almost 50% in abseentism from school and reduced need of discipline
  • USD $986,000 to implement over 3 years

"This is the best thing that has ever happened to the education sector.  Parents in this community do not understand that they have a role to play in their children’s academic progress and only leave it to the teachers."

 

-Headteacher attending a school entry workshop

This innovation is funded by Grand Challenges Canada.

Innovation details

The innovation is a scale-up of a multi-stakeholder WHO model developed for primary schools that has successfully been piloted in 24 secondary schools in Australia. Africa Mental Health Foundation (AMHF) has piloted the model in one rural school in Kenya. The model takes into account all environmental problems (social and cultural) affecting the child, from school to the community, and identifies and works with all relevant stakeholders.                          

Innovation activities:

  • Establishment of peer clubs, life skills training and screening and case management by lay health workers
  • Training of primary school teachers to run peer clubs (for sustainability)
  • Increase in parent-teacher contact to discuss academic performance 
  • Sensitization of parents to increase involvement and interest in children’s school work through community psychoeducation and awareness
  • Adaptation and adoption of  mhGAP guidelines for training primary health care workers to provide mental health services

Key drivers

Bottom-up approach

  • Giving ownership to the community improves  acceptability and sustainability

Challenges

  • Inadequate attention to children at school and at home
  • School absenteeism due to “sickness” and “helping at home”
  • Mental illness symptoms are not recognised by children, teachers and parents/guardians
  • Parents’ expectation of schools vs. children’s academic performance
  • Proposed life skills for students in an already crowded school curriculum

Continuation

This is a scale-up program from a previously implemented pilot. The pilot itself was replicated in Kenya after WHO successfully implemented a program in 24 secondary schools in Australia. Should the results prove successful, it can be generalized and further replicated in other counties.

Future plans for the innovation:

  • Scale up of innovation to other counties and entire country
  • Inclusion of life skills training and establishment of peer clubs in school curriculum
  • Inclusion of life skills training at teacher training programs
  • Parents’ and teachers’ forum for establishing dialogue

Partners

Funders

Evaluation methods

A randomized wait-listed control study was undertaken.1 Other evaluation methods will include:

  •  Monitoring of the number of students attending life skills and peer clubs over the period of the project
  • Focus group discussions with parents, teachers and students for qualitative evaluation
  • Monitoring of academic performance over time

Cost of implementation

The scale-up is estimated to cost $1 million USD between 2012 and 2015. A cost analysis to discover the cost-effectiveness of the innovation has yet to be undertaken.

Impact details

  • Community entry with opinion leaders and policy makers to set stage for eventual ownership of project has been completed
  • Formative research (normative and baseline measures) have been conducted
  • Curriculum for providing life skills training and establishing peer clubs in schools under development

References

  1. Kieling C et al. (2011) Children and adolescent mental health worldwide: evidence for action. Lancet, 378(9801):1515-25.
  2. Darr, A (2013)  Screening for mental illness in children: will it lead to better outcomes? Grand Challenges Canada.

Research

Multimedia

Comments

Submitted by Malcolm Hunt on Friday, 18th August 2023
A very inspiring and worthy research project project. I am keen to follow the outcomes.

Submitted by Malcolm Hunt on Friday, 18th August 2023
A very inspiring and worthy research project project. I am keen to follow the outcomes.

Submitted by Malcolm Hunt on Friday, 18th August 2023
A very inspiring and worthy research project project. I am keen to follow the outcomes.

Submitted by Malcolm Hunt on Friday, 18th August 2023
A very inspiring and worthy research project project. I am keen to follow the outcomes.
How useful did you find this content?: 
0
Your rating: None
0
No votes yet
Log in or become a member to contribute to the discussion.

Submit your innovation

Create your own page to tell the MHIN community about your innovation.

Country

Kenya

Affiliated organizations

Africa Mental Health Foundation

Gallery

Similar content

node teaser-image

School-based mental health and justice program for youth in India

A holistic program for young people integrating capacity-building for social justice on mental health within school-based settings.
Region: 
Asia
Population: 
Children and adolescents
Adults
Families and carers
Minority populations
Disability
Disorder: 
All disorders
6588 reads
node teaser-image

An Integrated Approach to Addressing the Issue of Youth Depression

A model integrating weekly interactive youth radio programs, school-based mental health literacy, and clinical care competency enhancement for community health providers.
Region: 
Africa
Population: 
Children and adolescents
Families and carers
Disorder: 
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
5187 reads
node teaser-image

School Health Implementation Network in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (SHINE)

The adaptation and implementation of WHO’s School Mental Health Program through an online training platform and chat-bot for school teachers in Pakistan.
Region: 
Middle East
Asia
Population: 
Children and adolescents
Disorder: 
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
1833 reads
node teaser-image

Mental Health Literacy for Students and Educators: The Mental Health & High School Curriculum Guide

An embedded curriculum resource delivered to students by trained teachers.
Region: 
Africa
North America
Central America and the Caribbean
South America
Asia
Europe
Population: 
Children and adolescents
Adults
Disorder: 
Psychosis/bipolar disorder
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
Alcohol/drug use disorders
Self-harm/suicide
7458 reads